"A river touching the back of a town is like a wing. River towns are winged towns."    (Henry David Thoreau)

River Portraits > Submit Stories

By sharing your fondest recollections of time spent along the Charles, you'll help us renew the spirit of the river and the lands that surround it.

Here's how to do it

• Recall a moment along the river that has stayed with you over the years. It might be a chance encounter that affected you deeply, involvement in a charitable event, or participation in an athletic event. It could be a childhood memory or even something that happened yesterday.

• Click on comments, fill out the form, and in the comments box, write about your experience. Or just email your experience to us (see our email address).

• Optional: Scan an image of yourself sitting or standing (or canoeing or rowing!) near the spot where your experience occurred, and send it to us as an email attachment. Your photo and river portrait together will make a stronger impact on readers than your experience alone. But if you can only send us your written experience, we'll welcome it.

• See a sample river portrait.

• We intend to use your river portraits in Conservancy publications and presentations to demonstrate the river's uniqueness and connect it to the communities it affects. Your experiences make the river real, with a heart and soul that touch all who have spent time along its shores. If you don't want your portraits used in our publications, please let us know when you send it in. Your wishes and privacy will be respected.